The flower that flew
by WithGraceWeFall
Summary: After Sakura's been captured, she has a small talk with Iwa no Deidara on the flight back to the base. After all, beauty doesn't last forever.


I felt the blackness lightening from around me. My head was pounding so hard I thought it might burst. My jaw was throbbing and I was sure I'd have a bruise there later, my chakra being drained didn't help that fact either.

I was coming into conciousness and I wasn't sure how long I'd been out. I sat up slowly, my eyes slammed as tightly shut as I could manage. The light from the outside was pushing its way through my eyelids and I tried desperately to ignore it. Finally, after a moment of silence, I heard a voice.

"You sleep too much, hm."

I opened my eyes. Any normal person in this situation would probably be panicking, or if you were a strategist like Hyuuga Neji or Nara Shikamaru, you'd be calculating possiblities on how the hell to get out of this mess. Apparently I'm not normal. I could hear my inner voice giggling and ranting on about how I'm just _now_ realizing this, and as usual, I ignored her.

I gave a quick rundown of my situation, and realized there was no possible way to get out of this situation without suicide, not that my captors would let that happen after all of the trouble they went through to get me. I should say, captor, at the moment. There was only one other person near, and it took me a moment to take in his appearance.

It's possible that he might be mistaken for a girl, but after you've dealt with a girl like Yamanaka Ino you quickly differenciate what is male and what is female. He had long, beautiful hair tied up high on his head. What color was that? Blond? No. Yellow? No. It was... The color of sunshine. It was breathtaking. His eyes were a light blend of blue and grey, and I was pretty sure he had a light amount of eyeliner surrounding them. He had masculine shoulders as well, but not much was visible due to his cloak flapping in the wind.

The man, I was sure to be known as Iwagakure's missing nin Deidara, gave me a smug look and puffed out his chest."Like something you see, I assume," He teased. I ignored him.

Wind.

I finally took in my surroundings. The most vibrant colors of orange, pink, red, and blue fled through the sky in the early morning. It must have been around five or six, I assumed. I looked down and in a fleeting moment realized I had to have been thousands of feet in the sky at this point. My heart raced, but I didn't give myself a moment to panic as I stared down at the scenery. We were higher than the tallest trees, face-to-face with the highest mountains, and soaring over the oceans' blue.

I gasped in awe, and a grin fell onto my lips. Deidara gave me a dry look, but I knew better than to believe this didn't captivate everyone.

"This is amazing," I breathed softly, tearing my eyes over to him. He shrugged in response, "It's alright," he replied, "I don't really get to enjoy it anymore, so I just tune it out."

I frowned at him, trying to cross my worn arms in a pout, and miserably failing. He gave me a look and sat down, no longer facing the sunrise, but me. "What?" He said.

I sighed, looking back to the scenery, "I've never been this high before. Shinobi... We don't fly. We fight, we heal, we run, and we repeat the cycle. We never fly," I sighed again, then smiled, "I'd love to fly. Living my life in the sky, watching everything disappear..." I had gotten his attention with that, though I'm not sure how.

I gave him a serious look and felt a silly question rising in my throat, but I knew I had to ask.

"How can you not love this? Beauty never lasts. I'm in one of the most dangerous situations of my life, and yet here I am, captivated by things that I may never see again. This is a work of art that could never last, as the world changes, nor could it ever be recreated. I have to ask, how could you not love this?"

Deidara's mouth opened slightly, and his eyes were wide. He paused for a moment, then changed his expression. He gave me a sly look.

"You know, I don't even know your name."

I gave him a coy smile.

"Sakura. Haruno Sakura."

He gave me a cheeky smile.

"Well, Sakura, I think I may be in love with you."

I laughed, and like all good art, I knew this moment wouldn't last. But I'd enjoy it while I could.

Maybe this wouldn't be the last time I saw the world from the sky.

Maybe, just maybe, even flowers can fly.


End file.
